It’s time for some nunchuck action. SoulCalibur VI‘s premiere martial artist is back, furiously swinging his weapons while seamlessly switching stances (or just mashing and wrecking anyway). At first glance, his gameplay seems to be perfectly preserved in comparison to his past versions, but there’s more to it.

Hayate brought veteran Maxi player Saitoh in as a consultant. As usual, they begin by addressing the character’s changes. Maxi doesn’t have a Pure Soul Loop 3, which used to transition between his Left and Right Outer stances. While he is missing a few things, most of his mechanics remained intact — like the Wavering Lights stance and his staple attacks, 44AB, 236B, and 33B~A.

Maxi gained a new Break Attack, A+B, which will certainly help get through Guard Impacts. He has good tracking moves that let him approach fast, like Right Cross AA, which combos on counter hit. His mechanics are also enhanced in general; stance switching is now rewarded by increased damage and an auto-GI window. Compared to his earlier incarnations, flowing from stance to stance shouldn’t be as risky at highly competitive gameplay.

Luke "Woocash" Siuty is a Chicago-based writer who specializes in ArcSys titles. A Guilty Gear veteran, he plays Baiken and commits atrocities by playing Sin when he's not busy pondering the ArcSys Cycle. He's always down to talk on Twitter, so send him tips. He's good at OS-ing in real life, not so much in video games, though.